February Consumer Confidence

February 28, 2006 – The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index fell by 5.1 index points to 101.7 in February, but remained at the upper end of its range since the start of this expansion (Chart 1).

Consumers’ appraisals of current economic conditions were little changed in February. The present situation index edged up by 0.5 index points to 129.3 – reaching a new expansion high (Chart 2).

However, the more volatile expectations index fell by 8.8 index points to 83.3 in February (Chart 3).

As noted in the Conference Board’s press release, it could be a bad omen for the consumer spending outlook if these expectations continue to fall.

In the meantime, consumers remained relatively impressed by current conditions in the labor market. The net of portion of consumers reporting that jobs are currently “plentiful” (the percentage reporting that jobs are “plentiful” minus the percentage reporting that jobs are “hard to get”) edged down by 0.1 percentage point to 6.6% in February – about unchanged at its highest level since the last recession (Chart 4).